US ratifies two key legal instruments

TIN news:      The United States has ratified two key legal instruments, the 2005 Protocols to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the safety of Maritime navigation (SUA Convention).
 
The main purpose of the Convention is to ensure that appropriate action is taken against people committing unlawful acts against ships. It is the first international instrument to address certain types of terrorism at sea and the illicit transport on board of ships of weapons of mass destruction.
 
The United States was one of the original proponents of amendments to the SUA Convention considered by IMO's Legal Committee in 2002.  
 
Edward P. Heartney, Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Counselor at the U.S Embassy in London, deposited the instruments of ratification with IMO's Frederick Kenney, Director, Legal Affairs and External Relations Division.